Post-punk legends Gang of Four brought their influential blend of funk, disco and noise-rock to the Roxy last week. Founding guitarist Andy Gill led the band through a propulsive set that mixed newer material with classics from the band’s early years.

John Maus performed a sold-out show at the Masonic Lodge in Los Angeles last Friday, with support from Maraschino. The dates were part of an ongoing North American tour that finds the singer returning to his one-man-band performance style.

Radiohead fans enamored of Thom Yorke’s experimental excursions into electronic music sold out the ornate and stately Chicago Theatre. The set list was built around Yorke’s solo material, primarily focused upon 2014’s Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes. The singer was clearly in his element while pursuing a musical vision purely his own.

Radiohead in 2018 continues its decades-long campaign of confounding expectations and challenging the norms of conventional rock bands. An adventurous crowd in Detroit offered strong support on Sunday. Photos by Andrew Potter.

Review and photos by Philamonjaro. The Pretenders’ playing is as vibrant and visceral as ever. The catalog of songs by Chrissie Hynde, Martin Chambers and company reveals rock and roll with substance, savvy arrangements and a mountain of melodic hooks. No pretending here; this band is the real deal.

Songs that sound like whimpers on the original Lp like “Even the Odd” and closer “January’s Little Joke” were as powerful as the immortal singles such as the aforementioned “Obscurity Knocks” and “Only Tongue Can Tell.”

Irish rockers U2 performed two dates at the United Center in Chicago, IL for its eXPERIENCE + iNNOCENCE tour. The set list leaned heavily upon U2’s recent bookend albums Songs of Innocence (2014) and Songs of Experience (2017). Photographer Philomonjaro was on hand to capture the action on Tuesday, May 22, 2018.

Acid Mothers Temple closed out their North American tour with shows in Los Angeles and Long Beach last week, leaving minds blown and eardrums buzzing. The 40-date tour also featured Yoo Doo Right from Montreal, with local support from Hooveriii (at the Echo on 5/8/18) and Leaf (at Alex’s Bar on 5/9/18).

With the extensive The Great Circle Tour 2017 barreling toward its final date in Sydney, the reactivated Midnight Oil showed no sign that it ought to return to retirement. The band’s activist posture and reinvigorated music are more potent and relevant than ever.

Paul McCartney brought his One on One tour to Chicago on Tuesday. Here’s an unconventional review of the former Beatle’s unconventional connection to some of his ardent fans – through the eyes of 11-year-old Melody Elbel. Photos by Curt Baran.

U2’s first of two nights at Chicago’s Soldier Field transcended mere nostalgia. The veteran Irish rockers shared the “desert songs” of 1987’s landmark The Joshua Tree album with a multi-generational assemblage of devoted fans as an act of spiritual communion.

Walking into the Capitol Theatre in Portchester, NY, there were signs that warned NO SURFING and NO MOSHING. Clutch were in town on their East Coast leg of their Summer 2017 tour supporting Psychic Warfare. These signs made it seem that the crew running the theater have not seen Clutch since the early to mid ‘90s. True enough, the band were part of the 90’s punk and hardcore scene but over the past 15 years or so they have evolved into a hard-working no BS kick-ass rock band.